CAPE Unveils Newly Elected Board Of Directors, Opens Submissions For Leaders Fellowship

Dino-Ray Ramos
·3 min read

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Coalition of Asian Pacifics in Entertainment (CAPE) has revealed its newly elected Board of Directors as well as Sanjay Sharma, Founder & CEO of Marginal Mediaworks, as the new Board Chair. The film and TV organization has also announced their open call for the CAPE Leaders Fellowship, an accelerator for Asian American and Pacific Islander media executives.

CAPEs new Board of Directors are:

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  • Albert Cheng, Chief Operating Officer and Co-Head of Television at Amazon Studios

  • Bill Imada | Founder, Chairman and Chief Connectivity Officer of IW Group

  • Bing Chen | Chairman and Co-Founder of Gold House

  • Frank Jung | Co-Founder and Co-Head of the CAA Digital Media Department and TV Packaging Agent at CAA

  • Gordon Ho | Principal Xpertainment, former Chief Marketing Officer and Head of Sales for Princess Cruises

  • Nina Yang Bongiovi |Co-Founder and Producer at Significant Productions

  • Peter J. McHugh |Manager and Producer at The Gotham Group

Sharma takes over the Board Chair seat from long-standing Chair Kevin Iwashina of Endeavor Content, who remains a co-chair of the CAPE Leaders Fellowship, along with aforementioned board members Cheng and McHugh.

Joining Sharma on the Board’s Executive Committee are Vice Chair Naia Cucukov, EVP, Development & Production at Walden Media and Secretary Rina Bannen, VP, Development at Universal Content Productions. Russ Riggins, Head of the Tax Credit Advisory Group at Three Point Capital, serves as CAPE’s Treasurer.

“In the midst of two crises, one sudden the other long-simmering, CAPE heads into its 30th year advocating for Asian American and Pacific Islander voices and issues in the storytelling industries, as well our siblings in all underrepresented communities,” said Sharma. “On the heels of historic gains for Asian American and Pacific Islander storytellers across film and television, we’re also seeing a sharp rise in discrimination and violence against Asians. And of course as the country awakens to the even longer standing issues facing the Black community, we know that the work, the stories and the bridge building we must do is of paramount importance.”

“As we move into our 30th year, we face more opportunities and challenges than ever in our industry,” said Michelle K. Sugihara, CAPE’s Executive Director. “I am excited to partner with our new Board to fortify our successful programs, including the CAPE New Writers Fellowship, the CAPE Leaders Fellowship, and the #GoldOpen movement (in partnership with Gold House), and to expand into new areas as we continue to change the narrative — from the writers room to the boardroom to your living room.”

This year’s Leaders Fellowship will be entirely virtual. Alumni from the Fellowship have advanced at companies including Warner Bros., The Walt Disney Company, Netflix, The CW, CBS, Universal Television, MRC, Hello Sunshine, WME/Endeavor and others. The Fellowship focuses on changing Hollywood’s systemic culture by grooming junior executives for senior leadership and the C-Suite. The application deadline is July 24 at 11:59pm PT.

In May, CAPE and The Black List teamed up for the second annual CAPE List, a curated list of unproduced scripts that center on diverse Asian Pacific characters and experiences from writers Asian American and Pacific Islander communities.

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